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Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte,
Papyrologie und Epigraphik
TYCHE
Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte
Papyrologie und Epigraphik
Band 5
1990
Verlag Adolf Holzhausens Nfg., Wien
Herausgegeben von:
Gerhard Dobesch, Hermann Harrauer, Peter Siewert und Ekkehard Weber
In Zusammenarbeit mit:
Reinhold Bichler, Herbert Graßl, Sigrid Jalkotzy und Ingomar Weiler
Redaktion:
Johann Diethart, Wolfgang Hameter, Bernhard Palme
Georg Rehrenböck, Walter ScheideI, Hans Taeuber
Zuschriften und Manuskripte erbeten an:
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Gedruckt auf holz- und säurefreiem Papier.
2
Umschlag: IG 11 2127 (Ausschnitt) mit freundlicher Genehmigung des Epigraphischen Museums in Athen, Inv.-Nr. 8490
und P. Vindob. Barbara 8.
© 1990 by Verlag A. Holzhausens Nfg., Wien
Eigentümer und Verleger: Verlag A. Holzhausens Nfg., Kandlgasse 19-21, A-1070 Wien. Herausgeber: Gerhard
Dobesch, Hermann Harrauer, Peter Siewert und Ekkehard Weber, c/o Institut für Alte Geschichte, Universität Wien,
Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Ring 1, A-1010 Wien. Hersteller: Druckerei A. Holzhausens Nfg., Kandlgasse 19-21, A-I070 Wi en.
Verlagsort: Wien. - Herstellungsort: Wien. - Printed in Austria.
ISBN 3-900518-03-3
Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
INHALT
Guido Bastianini (Milano), Una dichiarazione di un cammello. SPP XXII 97
riconsiderato (Tafel 1) ........................................................ ..
Guido Bastianini (Milano) e Claudio Gallazzi (Milano), Dati per un oroscopo.
O.Tebt. NS inv. 89( 1 (Tafel 2) .................................................
Björn Forsen (Helsinki), A Rediscovered Dedication to Zeus Hypsistos. EM 3221
(Tafel 3) .............. . ............ . ....................... . .....................
Claudio Gallazzi (Milano) e Guido Bastianini (Milano), Dati per un oroscopo .
O.Tebt. NS inv. 89/1 (Tafel 2) ........ .. .......................................
Dorottya Gaspar (Budapest), Eine griechische Fluchtafel aus Savaria (Tafel 4)
Ulrike Horak (Wien), Eine alphabetische Steuerliste und ein Grundkataster aus
byzantinischer Zeit (Tafel 5, 6) .................................................
Mika Kajava (Helsinki), A New City Patroness? (Tafel 7, 8) .......... ..........
Johannes Kramer (Siegen), Lateinisch-griechisches Glossar (Tafel 2) ... .... .... .
Johannes Kramer (Siegen), Zwei neue Augustalpräfekten auf einem lateinischen
Protokoll (Tafel 9) .............. ..... . .... ................ ......... ... ..... .. .. .
Dirk-Joachim Kukofka (Heidelberg), Waren die Bundesgenossen an den Landverteilungen des Tiberius Gracchus beteiligt? ..................................
Leslie S. B. MacCoul1 (Washington), CPtAOtlllia in Byzantine Papyrus Documents ............................................................................
Brian McGing (Dublin), Melitian Monks at Labia (Tafel 10-12) ...............
Peter van Minnen (Leiden) and Klaas A. Worp (Amsterdam), A New Edition of
Ostraka from Akoris ................... . ..... .. .... . .. .. .. . .....................
Rosario Pintaudi (Firenze), Oxyrhynchos e Oxyrhyncha. P.Vat. Gr. 65: Lettera
di Dionysodoros ad Asklepiades (Tafel 13) ....................................
Gene PolIo (Tirana), Die Germanicus-Inschrift aus Buthrotum (Tafel 14) .......
Athanasios Rizakis (Athen), La politeia dans les cites de la confederation acbeene
(Tafel 15) .................. ... .... . .............................. .. ..............
Ralf Scharf (Heidelberg), Der comes sacri stabuli in der Spätantike .............
Wido Sie berer (Innsbruck), Zur Lokalisierung des homerischen Ithaka .........
Pieter J. Sipesteijn (Amsterdam), Five Byzantine Papyri (Tafel 16-19) ........
Pieter J . Sipesteijn
(Amsterdam), Liste mit Getreide-, ÖI- und Geldzahlungen
I
(Tafel 20, 21) .. . . .... ... ................ .. .... .. ....................... .. ........
Pieter J. Sipesteijn (Amsterdam), A Dedication to Isis. SEG XXXI 1532 Redated .............................................................................
Johannes Triantaphyllopoulos (Athen), Zu Corpus Papyrorum Raineri XIV
(Griechische Texte X) ................................................. .. ........
5
9
5
13
17
27
37
41
45
63
67
95
101
105
109
135
149
165
171
175
177
Inhaltsverzeichnis
K1aas A. W orp (Amsterdam) and Peter van Minnen (Leiden), A New Edition of
Ostraka from Akoris ............................ .. ..................... .... .....
95
Bemerkungen zu Papyri 111 < KOff. Tyche 28 - 34> ..............................
179
Buchbesprechungen... ... ..... .. .............. ......... ... ... ............. .... . .. .. ..
183
Massimo P a li 0 ti n 0: Etruskologie. Geschichte und Kultur der Etrusker, Basel 1988 (193); A. Val vo: La "Profezia
di Vegoia", Roma 1988 (183); Laformazione della citta in Emilia Romagna, Bologna 1988 (184); Celti ed
Etrusci l1ell'Italia centro-settentrionale dal V secolo a. C. alla romanizzazione. Atti dei Colloquio Internazionale. Bologna 1987 (186); Gilda Barloloni Cu. a.]: Le urne a capanna rinvenute il1 nalia, Roma
1987 (187); M. Milanese: Scavi l1ell'oppidum preromano di Genova (Gel1ova-San Silvestro) , Roma 1987
(188: Luciana Aigner Foresti) - SI. Leontsini: Die Prostitllliol1 im frühen Byzanz, Wien 1989 (189:
Johannes Diethart) - A. Rengakos: Form und Wal1del des Machtdenkel1s der Athener bei Thukydides,
Stuttgarl 1984 (190); Appian v. Alexandria: Römische Geschichte, 2. T., übers. O. Veh, Stuttgart 1989
(191); J. Buckler: Philip II and the Sacred War, Leiden 1989 (191); H . H. Brouwer: Bona Dea, Leiden
1989 (192); R. v. Haehli ng: Zeit bezüge des T. Liviusin der ersten Dekade seines Geschichtswerkes, Stuttgart
1989 (193); Th. Schäfer: Imperii insignia. Sella curulis undfasces, Mainz 1989 (194); G. Alföldy: Die
Krise des römischel1 Reiches, Stuttgart 1989 (194); J. D. Minyard: Lueretius and the Late Republic, Leiden
1985 (195); J. Hahn: Der Philosoph und die Gesellschaft, Stuttgart 1989 (196); H. E. Herzig, R. FreiStolba: Labor omnibus ,mus. G. Walser zllm 70. Geburtstag, Stuttgart 1989 (196); G. F. Hertzberg: Die
Geschichte Griechenlands unter der Herrschaft der Römer, Nachdruck Hildesheim 1990 (197: Gerhard
Dobesch) - R. Pintaudi Cu. a.]: Papyri Graecae Wessely Pragenses (P.Prag. I), Firenze 1988 (199:
Bernhard Palme) - P. Garnsey: Famine al1d Food Supply il1 lhe Graeco-Romal1 World, Cambridge 1989
(202); P. Garnsey, R. Salier: Das römische Kaiserreich. Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft und KIlltur, Reinbek
1989 (203: Walter Scheidei) - G. Dragon, D. FeisseI: Inscriptions de Cilicie, Paris 1987 (204: Peter
Siewert)
Corrigendum zu Tyche 4 (1989), 160 ....................... .........................
Indices: Johannes Diethart ........................................................
Tafel 1- 21
206
207
LESLIE
S. B.
MACCOULL
<PtAOTtllia in Byzantine Papyrus Documents
The recent publication in full of the text, with a plate, of P.Lond. III l305 descr. 1
has brought to the attention of scholars a further instance of the technical use of the
noun qnAOtlllia2 in documentary texts from Byzantine Egypt. The new text is an EV'tUYWV,
with no provenance given and no date beyond "6th or 7th cent." assigned to its dating
formula ofPhamenoth 11, indiction 14. The text may, however, be assigned to Hermopolis
on the basis of its prosopography. It is written in the first person by Demeas, the O'XOAaO'tlK6~ and EK81KO~, the same official who issued the Hermopolite document reconstituted as SPP III 368 + 370 by J. M. Diethart and K. A. Worp in ZPE 46 (1982)
231- 232. Thus the bi shop mentioned in line 3 would have been the bi shop ofthe important
see of Hermopolis (Magna): the date is most probably sixth century. In the London
papyrus Demeas instructs the 9al)llaO'16'rato~ Artemidorus the napaAllllntiJ~ to furnish
twelve artabas of grain to Phibios, Isakios, and the mother of Dioskorides, "from the
qnAOtlllia of the most reverend (9EOO'EßEO'tatO~) bishop"; and to receive first from them
three gold solidi less 15 keratia (i. e. in cash). Clearly qnAOtlllia refers to some sort of
fund, in this ca se a fund of stored grain. The editor translates the word as "Iargesse" (p.
35). Can we arrive at a more specific signification for what seems to be a financial technical
term coined in the sixth century?
Comparative material comes from the Hermonthite and the Oxyrhynchite. First,
P.Lond. V 1719 and 1721, acknowledgements of debt with promises to repay. In 1719,
dated by Bell to 541 or 556, Aurelius Paam, priest of the holy church of (Jeme ?), and
Paul from the same KUO'tpOV address .. .lios son of PsasL a Syenite also living there. They
state that they have received from hirn, and owe to hirn d~ EKtlO'lV Kai an68oO'lV, the
total sum of five gold solidi: four for Paam who received them in Mecheir, when the
document is dated, and one for Paul who is to receive it in the coming Epeiph, together
with IlE'tu qnAOtlllia~. This, it is stated, comes to 2400 talents 3 . For the lender's greater
security they have entrusted to hirn as deposit (6n09iJKll) a gold bracelet, a gold-earring,
I G. M. Parassoglou, Nineteen Papyrifrom the British Library, Hellenika 38 (1987) 35-36.
The verb qJ\AonllBollul is of course also used in its more basic sense, as meaning "eagerly to strive for
something" or "to glory in something", in papyrus texts of this period. Examples are from the archive of
Dioscorus of Aphrodito: P.Cair. Masp. I 67019, 24 (A. D. 548 - 551), [oi <plAOt]lIlTJ9BvtE<; tUltOl, "the (imperial)
laws ofwhich we are proud"; P.Cair. Masp. III 67352, 11, <PlAOtlIlTJIlBVTJ used ofthe emperor's Kpim<;; P.Cair.
Masp. 167097 verso (D) 69 (ca. A. D. 565/566), the IhoKijPU~l<;, where we find <plAOtll-\OUmv ud tO ltUtPlKOV
OIl6<puAov. What the present note is concerned with is the special use of the noun <PlAOtllliu in financial contexts.
SPP X 251 (b) 2, from the Arsinoite, a somewhat anomalous case, will be discussed below.
3 On reckoning in talents in the sixth century see R. S. Bagnall, Currency and Inflation in Fourth-Century
Egypt, Atlanta 1985, 17.
2
64
Leslie S. B. MacCoull
and two ear-pendants, their own property, which are stipulated to be in his unhindered
possession (occr1to .. Eia) until the repayment and fulfilment of the contract, cruv ..6KOt~
(with interest). However, Bell translates <ptAon~ia also as "interest", construing it with
the phrase reckoned in talents and thus assuming that the "interest" is what amounted
to 2400 talents. (He adds the alternative, that the "interest" may be on the whole sum
of 5 solidi instead of on just the 1 solidus nearest the phrase. Any possessive pronoun is
a restoration). This cannot make sense. We al ready have the normal word for interest,
.. OKOt, in the guarantee or collateral part of the loan contract. And Bell is mistaken in
skewing the participle of Aa~ßuvco to yield the meaning that the two-part loan is repayable
in Mecheir and Epeiph. The end of the document is lost; the due date would have been
specified in the latter part. <ptAon~ia cannot mean "interest" here. But its meaning remains
unc1ear.
The companion piece, P.Lond. V 1721, is no more helpful. In this document, from
which any dates or names at the beginning have been lost, the debtor (framer of the
document) declares that he has received (etc., as above) one-half a gold solidus, and is
in addition ready to furnish the lender tl1tEP <PtA01[t~i]a~ of what is owed hirn (lender)
by hirn (borrower) in Payni, without fudging the account (avaj.l.<ptM[yco~]) and for his
security, some unnamed object (the end is lost). This <ptAonj.l.ia cannot mean "interest"
either (although Bell cites this document to support his previous rendering4) . Here it is
not a technical financial term so much as an attempted synonym for the expected legal
term for "collateral" or "pledge", "an earnest of what is owed". These two Hermonthite
documents do not help us to pin down the word in its exact fiscal meaning.
We are on surer ground with the Oxyrhynchite material, where extensive papyri from
the Apion estate's financial archives provide many uses of <ptAon~ia as an accounting
term. Two long accounts of disbursements, one in grain and the other in wine, provide
abundant evidence. P.Oxy. XVI 1913, dated by Grenfell and Hunt to ca. 555, lists disbursements to various people and institutions under the following headings: to the account
(MyQl) of pasturage, of compensation (1tapaj.l.u9ia), offreight, of wages, of expenditures,
of salary (Ö\jH)WtOV), and of <ptAo'tt~ia, this last translated "Iargesse". The three cases in
wh ich a disbursement is recorded "to the account of <ptAon~ia" are interesting. All three
payments, made in amounts of grain (50 or 100 artabas), are to lawyers (crxoAacrnKoi).
This was noticed by A. Claus, ' 0 aX0A.amlK{)(;, Köln 1965, 91-93, who, however, was
unable to explain the meaning of <ptAonj.l.ia. Each of the learned (tAAoytj.l.Ona.. ot) men,
Theodore the Kynopolite, Theodore son of Gratian, and Gerontius, receives, "to account
of <ptAon~ia as is customary (Ka.. u .. 0 IWo~)," an amount of grain, standardized at 50
artabas. (Theodore son of Gratian also receives an additional 50 artabas Ka ..u
1tpocr9CitKllV), as a bonus). These people, listed among fieldguards, smiths, potters, vinedressers, stable-hands, monks, bakers, sailors and bricklayers, seem to be receiving an
honorarium for services rendered to the noble house.
Also in P.Oxy. XXVII 2480, an account for the issue of wine dated by the editors
to 565 - 566, we find <ptAon~ia as a major category under which heading disbursements
are made, along with aVUACOj.l.a or expenditure, Ö\jIroVtOV or salary 5, and cucreßcta or
4
5
Preisigke's lemma (WB s. V . q)lA.Otl~üx) for the meaning "Zins" is these two examples only.
For a later fiscal example of q>tA.otl~ia coupled with öljfOOVtoV cf. Theoph. Contin. 265, 8 - 12.
qllAo'tlllia in Byzantine Papyrus Documents
65
religious charity (the latter made to religious KOlv6ßta or ~Evoöoxda, or to the disabled).
Here there is a variety of recipients for payments made under this head. Lines 18 f.:
"(Thoth): To the leading men 6 on the occasion of the happy birthday of our ötcr7tOtVa
the most noble consular lady, to account of <ptA,o'tq.1ia, Mesore 27, ind. 13, from the
pressing of the 14th (?) indiction, wine, 20 dipla." Lines 33 - 34: "(Phaophi): To the
shipwrights and caulkers and carpenters and others, to account of <PtA,o'ttllia, on the day
on which the great (riverboat) the 'Crayfish' was launched into the river, Phaophi 1O( +),
ind. 14, and to lustus the sailor on the same day in 2 receipts (1tlUUKta), wine, 13 dipla. "
Line 62: "(Pharmouthi): To the most magnificent apxrov (praeses) Thomas 7 , to account
of qnA,o'ttllia, on the occasion of his adventus (Ei:a080c;), Pharmouthi 5, wine, 100 dipla."
And line 100: "(Pachon): To Theodore the shieldmaker, who made the shields (aKOlnUpta)
of the noble house, to account of <PtA,o'ttllia, Pachon, wine, 1 diploun." This diversity
deserves analysis.
The editors translate the first occurrence of <PtA,o'ttllia as "Iargesse" (taking a cue
from their predecessors in P.Oxy.). But let us look at who the recipients are and what
they are being paid for - - - in amounts of wine ranging from a hundred Öt1tA,U for a high
official's adventus down to just one for the craftsman who painted the little "shields"
used for heraldic display in processions and celebrations of the Apion dynasty. These
disbursements too appear to be honoraria paid in kind to people who have rendered a
service to the noble house (performed birthday acclamations, fitted out a boat for its
ceremonial launching, made heraldic decorations) or stood in a customary relation of
obligation to it (the adventus of a new praeses).
We are left with the puzzling text of SPP X 251, given by Wessely as from the
Arsinoite and 6 th century. Without giving a complete re-edition, I think we are on safe
ground in correcting a couple of errors in this ed. pr. The document appears to be a leaf
from an estate account codex with some points of similarity to the Apion accounts
discussed above. The entries cover the end of Choiak and beginning of Tybi of a fourteenth
indiction, and each item is introduced by Öt' E1tta'tUA,lla'toC; ,N., "by order of N." Both
military ranks (optio, mandatarius) and church feasts (Epiphany, "the 1taVTnUptC; of
Hathyr" [either St.Michael or St. MenasJ) figure in the expenditures, as well as estate
matters such as dike work, "the illustrious lady", the ouaia, the KEA,A,aphllC; 'tou OtlCOU,
and "weavers working on the tapestry of the lord". Here the expenditures are in money,
reckoned in nomismata. In (b) line 2, <ptA,on/ cannot be expanded as <ptA,O'tqlOUIlf:VOU
agreeing with 'Irouvvou apxta'tpou. The entry should run "By order of lohn the apxta'tp6C;,
<ptA,o'tt(lliaC;) aUIl1tA,ll(POUIlf:VllC;) (the <ptA,o'tq.t.ia having been made up to the full sum), 2
solidi" . (cI>tA,o'tt/ in (a) line 1 must be a proper name, as given in the edition). Here too
some sort of fund for payment appears to be meant.
6 A. D. E. Cameron in Circus Factions, Oxford 1976, 38 agrees that this must be the meaning of
1tpw'tOOTlIl0'tUI: that the "demes" of which they are the "first" have nothing to do with the factions. And yet
in this papyrus payment is made "for watering the horses of the Blue Iltpo~ at the spectacle of the ~'tE(paVla
(Iine 10), "to the smiths who made the keys for the head stabieman of the Biue Iltpo~'s horses" (line 28), "for
care of the horses of the Biue Ili:po~" (lines 97 and 98), and so on. Is it possible that the peopie being given
wine here for a birthday celebration of the noble house are in fact some kind of faction cheerleaders?
7 The editors speculate on his identity with the Fi. Thomas of P.Lond, V 1679, 4 and P.Cair. Masp. III
67320, 1, cf. 11 67169 bis 6.
66
Leslie S. B. MacCoull
In conclusion, how can we define this term? In sixth-century financial documents,
<plAo'nllia me ans a fund of staple commodities or of money, administered by a secular
estate employee or an ecclesiastic, out of which disbursements were made to professionals
or craftsmen as honoraria for services rendered. The fund apparently also could be used
for making loans in case of need. Perhaps John the apxta'tp6<; had treated a member of
the noble house; and, to return to P.Lond. III 1305 descr., perhaps the three people named
had helped the bishop in a charitable or festal undertaking. In any case, rendering <plAO'nllia by "honorarium" rather than something as vague as "largesse" may be a useful
measure to be adopted by editors of Byzantine financial documents in future 8 .
Dumbarton Oaks
1703 32nd Street, N . W.
Washington D. C. 20007
8
Leslie S. B. MacCoull
I should like to thank B. Cavarra, J. Long, and L. Siorvanes, for their helpful discussion.